I just got a new job and I think I will have a steady supply of springs that would otherwise go to waste. I have been thinking of salvaging them in order to cut them up eventually and making stainless steel pins. I am pretty cheap and am kind of always on the lookout for ways to do it myself, most of you would understand I'm sure.
Anyway I don't yet have a wet tumbler and can't test it out on my own, but I wonder if any of you guys who know more about the process than I think it will work. The ends of the springs are thin enough to fit through flash holes, by the way.
My main concerns are these:
The wire cutters pinching the end to being too thick and get them through the flash holes.
The curvature of the springs will cause them to stick annoyingly in the flash holes.
The springs may not be as corrosion resistant as I had hoped and rust. Are there any good predictors of how well they resist rust? I would hate to spend months collecting them and hours cutting them up only to have them rust. Or would that not matter because they would have the rust rubbed off on the tumbling action?
So what do you think, any thoughts?